JPH0672569A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of a paper feeding cassette by preventing adhesion of toner and the like to a rail of a paper feeding cassette. CONSTITUTION:In an image forming device, which is provided with an opening 8 for fitting a paper feeding cassette freely removably, a groove-shaped main body side guide rail 2 extended to the inside of the opening, and the paper feeding cassette having a projecting cassette side rail 3 which is engaged with the main body side guide rail 2 to move forward/backward to the inside/outside of the opening, a cleaning member 9, which is in sliding contact with the cassette side rail 3, is arranged freely removably in a proper position on the opening side of the main body side guide rail 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a paper feed cassette rail for detachably supporting a paper feed cassette of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image forming apparatus provided with a paper feed cassette for accommodating a large number of sheets in an apparatus main body. These will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state in which the sheet feeding cassette is mounted in the apparatus main body, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a state in which the sheet feeding cassette is pulled out from the apparatus main body. When the paper feed cassette 101 is attached to or detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus (not shown), the guide rails 102 (recesses) provided on the main body of the apparatus are provided with ridged paper feed cassette rail portions 1 provided on both side walls of the paper feed cassette.
03 slides. An elongated hole 104 extending in the vertical direction is formed in the side wall provided with the paper feed cassette rail portion 103, and the paper feed cassette positioning shaft 10 is provided in the elongated hole 104.
4a is arranged to be movable in the vertical direction, and is constantly elastically biased to the lower position shown by a spring (not shown). A cassette rail positioning portion 105, which is a recess, is formed at an appropriate position on the rail 102, and when the paper feed cassette 101 is completely inserted into the main body of the apparatus, the positioning shaft 10 as shown in FIG.
4a is received and the paper feed cassette 101 is locked.

In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, etc., which uses electrophotography, toner is used in the developing process. Therefore, a developing device is provided in the upper part of the main body of the apparatus, and a paper feeding cassette is provided in the lower part. Has been done. When the developing device causes the toner to fall off, the toner adheres to the rail portion of the paper feeding cassette. As a result, Fig. 4 (b)
While the paper feed cassette rail 102 and the paper feed cassette rail portion 103 repeatedly slide in the direction of arrow B, the slidability between the paper feed cassette rail 102 and the paper feed cassette rail portion 103 is caused by the adherence of the spilled toner. And the operability of the paper feed cassette 101 deteriorates.

In FIG. 4 (a), the paper feed cassette positioning shaft 104a receives a load from the direction of arrow A in the elongated hole 104 and enters the cassette rail positioning portion 105 to lock the paper feed cassette 101. It has become.
If the toner adheres to the inside of the positioning portion 105, the paper feeding cassette positioning shaft 104a will get over the inclined portion of the cassette rail positioning portion 105 unless the paper feeding cassette 101 is pulled out with a force considerably larger than the load in the direction of arrow A. In some cases, the paper feed cassette 101 cannot be removed from the main body of the apparatus. As described above, in the above-described conventional image forming apparatus, while the paper feed cassette rail portion of the paper feed cassette and the paper feed cassette rail are sliding, the spilled toner or the like adheres to the rail portion and the paper is fed. There is a problem in that the slidability between the cassette rail and the paper feed cassette rail portion deteriorates.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and prevents the toner dropped from the developing device from adhering to the rail portion of the paper feed cassette to improve the operability of the paper feed cassette. It is an object of the present invention to provide the image forming apparatus.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
An image forming apparatus having an opening for detachably mounting a paper feed cassette and a groove-shaped main body side guide rail extending in the opening, the opening being formed by engaging the main body side guide rail. In a device provided with a paper feed cassette having a ridge cassette-side rail that moves inward and outward, a cleaning member that slidably contacts the cassette-side rail is detachably disposed at an appropriate position on the opening side of the main body-side guide rail. A portion of the cleaning member that is in sliding contact with the cassette-side rail is made of a felt material.

[0007]

In the image forming apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the cleaning member attached to the paper feed cassette rail allows
The operability of the paper feed cassette can be improved by preventing the toner and the like from adhering to the paper feed cassette rail portion.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 (a) is an external perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus main body to which the present invention is applied, and in FIG. 1 (a), there is a recess at the bottom of the apparatus main body in which the paper feed cassette 1 is mounted. Two body-side (groove-shaped) guide rails 2 are attached to the sheet metal base 7. A cleaning member 9 is arranged near the entrance of the attachment / detachment opening 8 of the main body side guide rail 2, and a cassette rail positioning portion 5 is formed behind the cleaning member 9. The cassette rail positioning portion 5 is a recess formed at an appropriate position of the guide rail 2, and is a portion to which a positioning shaft 4 described later provided on the paper feeding cassette side is fitted.

FIG. 1 (b) is an external perspective view showing the structure of the sheet feeding cassette. In FIG. 1 (b), the sheet feeding cassette 1 is provided with two ridge-shaped cassette side rail portions 3. There is. A sheet feeding cassette positioning shaft 4 is supported in a vertical hole 6 formed by cutting out a part of the cassette side rail portion 3 so as to be capable of advancing and retreating in the vertical direction, and a spring (not shown) constantly receives a load in a direction of an arrow A. It is configured to enter the cassette rail positioning portion 5 described in 1 (a). Since the positioning shaft 4 is supported in the elongated hole 6 so as to be movable in the vertical direction while maintaining a horizontal posture, and a specific structure for constantly elastically urging downward is a design matter, it is not particularly illustrated. Further, the positioning portion 5 may be provided on the upper surface of the guide rail 2, and in this case, the shaft 4 is biased upward.

2 (a) and 2 (b) are explanatory views of the operation of the present invention. FIG. 2 (a) shows the state when the cassette is mounted, and FIG. 2 (b) shows the state when the cassette is pulled out.
2 (a) and 2 (b), when pulling out the paper feed cassette 1 from the state where it is attached to the main body of the apparatus (FIG. 2 (a)), the opening / closing opening 8 of the main body side guide rail 2 must be used. The cassette side rail portion 3 slides on the cleaning member 9 provided at the entrance of the. Therefore, even if toner spilled from a developing device (not shown) adheres to the cassette-side rail portion 3, the cleaning member 9 is used to clean the sheet-feed cassette 1 when it is attached or detached. The movement in the arrow B direction with the cassette side rail portion 3 is always smoothly performed. That is, the cleaning member 9
Is located on the opening side of the positioning portion 5, and almost the entire length of the cassette side rail portion 3 slides in contact with the cleaning member 9 when the cassette is attached / detached. Therefore, almost the entire length of the rail portion 3 is cleaned and attached. The toner can be removed. The cleaning member 9 may be provided on the upper side of the guide rail 2 or on both the upper and lower sides.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the sheet feeding cassette positioning shaft 4 receives a load in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG. Even when the paper feed cassette 1 enters the position 5 and the paper feed cassette 1 is in the locked state, since there is no toner adhesion between the positioning portion 5 and the shaft 4, the paper is smoothly fed by a light force equivalent to the load from the direction of arrow A. The cassette 1 can be detached from the device body.

FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show an embodiment of the cleaning member. In FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), the cleaning member 9 is the paper feed cassette 1 of the main body side guide rail 2. The felt material 11 or the artificial grass material 12 is formed on the mount 10 which can be attached and detached in the entrance recess of the attachment / detachment opening 8. Since the cleaning member 9 can be attached and detached, if the cleaning member 9 is contaminated with an adhered substance or is worn down and its cleaning function deteriorates, the pedestal 10 is removed from the main body side guide rail 2 and a new cleaning is performed. It can be easily replaced with the member 9.

[0013]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the cleaning member 9 attached to the main body side guide rail 2 prevents toner and the like from adhering to the cassette side rail portion 3. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus in which the operability of the paper feed cassette 1 is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are an external perspective view of a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus main body to which the present invention is applied, and a perspective view showing an example of a paper feed cassette to which the present invention is applied.

2A and 2B are cross-sectional views showing a mounted state and a drawn-out state of a sheet feeding cassette.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a configuration example of a cleaning member.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are explanatory views of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Paper feed cassette, 2 ... Guide rail, 3 ...
-Guide rails, 4 ... Paper feed cassette positioning axis,
5: cassette rail positioning part, 6: elongated hole, 7
... Sheet metal base, 8 ... Attachment / detachment opening, 9 ... Cleaning member, 10 ... Pedestal, 11 ... Felt material, 12 ... Artificial grass material, 101 ... Bottom plate, 102 ...
..Device main body side guide rail, 103 ... Cassette side guide rail portion, 104 ... Paper feeding cassette positioning shaft, 105 ... Cassette rail positioning portion, 106 ...
..Oval holes

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location H04N 1/00 108 C 7046-5C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising an opening for detachably mounting a paper feed cassette and a groove-shaped main body side guide rail extending in the opening, wherein the main body side guide rail is engaged. A sheet feeding cassette having a ridge cassette side rail that moves inward and outward together with the ridge cassette side rail, wherein a cleaning member that slidably contacts the ridge cassette side rail is attached to and detached from the main body side guide rail at a proper position on the opening side. An image forming apparatus characterized by being freely arranged. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the cleaning member which is in sliding contact with the cassette-side rail is made of a felt material.